Palace of Westminster

The lavishly illustrated “Palace of Westminster Official Guide” by the Houses of Parliament arrived on my desk this week. It is a very informative book on the Palace, full of interesting facts and illustrations.


The history of Parliament is a fascinating one and I liked the quote on the back cover

“We may be proud that England is the ancient country of Parliaments. With scarcely any intervening period, Parliaments have met constantly for 600 years, and there was something of a Parliament before the Conquest. England is the mother of Parliaments.” John Bright, British politician and orator, 1865.

The book describes many interesting historical facts about Parliament, from the beginning of parliament, when Hansard was formally established, to what is Hansard, to the Suffragette/suffragists period, gunpowder plot and much, much more.

One particular fact jumped out at me, it was the assignation of Spencer Perceval. I didn’t realise that at 5.15 pm on 11th May 1812 the Prime Minister Spencer Perceval was fatally shot as he entered the House of Commons Lobby.

The assassin was John Bellingham, who was a merchant and felt he was entitled to compensation by the British Government for being wrongly imprisoned in Russia. He was hanged for murder the following week.

There is a very interesting timeline at the back of the book, which compares the Palace of Westminster to British parliamentary and constitutional history to major events.  I noticed that in the timeline the trial of Warren Hastings in 1788 is mentioned. The trial started the year before the start of the French Revolution.
It’s a fascinating book full of information and gorgeous illustrations.

Warren Hastings may be dead but not forgotten in the NLS

I was looking at the reprints of the House of Lords sessional papers, and found 10 volumes from 1794-95, which were entitled the trial of Warren Hastings. I have heard his name many times through my work, and thought that he deserves a mention. He was born in 1732 and died in 1818 and he was the first general governor of India from 1773 to 1785.


However, in 1787 the House of Lords were deemed fit to bring him to trial on

“An impeachment against him for high crimes and misdemeanors, by the knights, Citizens, and Burgesses, in Parliament assembled, in the name of themselves, and of all the Commons of Great Britain.”

The crimes included misconduct, mismanagement, personal corruption and extortion.

It took seven years for him to be acquitted.

Looking through these volumes there is an amazing amount of information, oral and written minutes and appendixes laid before the House Of Lords.